Pack Unbound
by Kalira69
Summary: After returning from his mission to heart-wrenching news, Sakumo chases his traitorous mate down only to find they have a new hunt to embark on together, one that sends them running straight back to Konoha - with their son's life in the balance. Tobirama, brought back via Edo Tensei, is Very Displeased at what he finds in modern Konoha. (Danzo gets eaten by a large, moody snake.)


Written for Naruto Rare Pair Bingo 2019, for the spaces 'friendship/family' on Board A & 'animal summons' on Board B.

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"_Oro!_" Sakumo howled, pouring a little more chakra to his exhausted muscles for speed. He caught up just as his runaway - treacherous? his heart bled at the suggestion - mate twisted and glanced over his shoulder, faltering for a single instant, longing flashing across his face. It was gone when Sakumo reached his side, but he'd _seen_ it, all the same. No one knew Orochimaru - his expressions, his voice, his scent - like Sakumo.

"What are you doing here, White Fang?" Orochimaru said, tone cold and face all but expressionless. His golden eyes gleamed, though, and a fine tremor ran across his shoulders.

Sakumo shook his head, staring at his mate. "You- You left Konoha," his throat closed off and he had to struggle to continue, aching and confused, "and you _took Kakashi_ with you, of course I'm here."

Orochimaru went dangerously still, even the tremor disappearing as his eyes widened and his pupils narrowed to slits. Sakumo's blood ran cold even before Orochimaru opened his mouth.

"I don't have Kakashi." Orochimaru said, his voice cutting through the sudden roar in Sakumo's ears effortlessly. "I left him behind. They wouldn't even let me go to him to say goodbye." The sharply bitter tone was eclipsed by the rage rising in his mate's face, and Sakumo felt its twin rising in his veins as his heart howled.

"We're returning to Konoha. Both of us." Sakumo said, unable to keep the rough snarl out of his voice. His mate forced out of their home territory and his cub _stolen_.

"_Now._" Orochimaru agreed, already moving, and Sakumo's own movements hitched for a split-second because- That was a twist of fear souring Orochimaru's scent.

Orochimaru didn't _get_ frightened, not like this. Even for Kakashi. . . Orochimaru grew angry, protective, defensive, even hurt . . . _scared_ was. . .

Sakumo tried to fight down the sickening feeling it gave him as he ran at his mate's heels, back to their village, mind full of his cub. Sakumo swore silently to bring down every brick of his home village if his son had been harmed while they _lied to him_, sending him off howling after his mate, assured that every bit of horror could be laid at Orochimaru's feet and hurting with that surety.

He fixed his attention on Orochimaru running ahead of him, his mental map of the way back to Konoha, keeping pace - neither of them sparing any speed.

They pulled up short at the gates, closed against them, a pair of jounin looking down from the wall. Sakumo panted at his mate's side; he'd driven himself harshly, returning from his mission only to leave almost immediately to chase down his mate - no easy task at the best of times - three days gone supposedly with their cub, and then an unrestrained run back.

"Lovely, what-" Sakumo fell silent as Orochimaru shook one sleeve back, baring the tattoo that bound his summoning contract. _Oh._ Sakumo's eyes widened and he took a step back as his mate summoned Manda. Yelps of alarm from the Konoha nin so near echoed around them.

The great snake stretched with studied care, eyeing the village. "I thought you were to allow them to drive you out, little summoner." he observed.

"I was." Orochimaru said, sharp and venomous. "Someone _stole my son_."

Manda stilled, then tilted his head, examining Orochimaru with one eye. "You do not _return_, then . . . you reclaim what is yours."

"And perhaps spare a little time to destroy an old comrade who has _richly earned it_ while I'm here." Orochimaru said almost pleasantly. The venom hiding just beneath the surface. His expression was viciously sharp.

Manda hissed, baring his fangs, and Sakumo's heart jumped. Orochimaru's snakes didn't discomfit him - they never had, and he had grown quite comfortable with them in the years he and Orochimaru had been a mated pair - but Manda was . . . something else.

"I will assist." Manda decreed, twisting to face the gate. Sakumo jumped as Orochimaru rested a hand on his shoulder, bringing him in closer as Manda made a sibilant dismissive sound and shoved his horned head against the gates with an almost casual stretch.

They cracked and then splintered, and a flick of his head shattered the fragments clinging to the hinges. Then he writhed, arching his powerful body, and the arched wall crumbled, rubble falling across his scales and digging grooves into the road as his shifting coils pushed it further away, widening the space he had broken through.

Sakumo looked, suddenly on guard - he'd forgotten, he was unaccustomed to thinking of Konoha nin as _potential threat_ \- but there was no sign of the jounin, nor the pair of chuunin who should have been on duty at the gate. Manda's coils proceeded out of their way, and Sakumo fell in behind Orochimaru again as he walked back into Konoha.

Sakumo lifted his head, scenting distractedly, but of course everything smelled like familiar, safe territory.

Not so safe, if their son. . .

Sakumo flinched, shaking his head and letting echoes of the movement continue down his body. He took another deep breath, moving around Manda towards the village proper, then pausing and turning towards his mate. Orochimaru met his eyes without a word.

"Lovely, I- I don't know where Kakashi is, where he _could_ be, I could find no trace - no _new_ trace - of him. . ." Sakumo whined miserably. He had looked, had scented, but he'd been told Orochimaru had taken Kakashi, and that would have faded in all the other traces of their scents around home. And he had _known_ Orochimaru had left the village.

Orochimaru stroked his cheek with a cool, controlled touch. "I have a suspicion." he said in an icy tone. The killing intent already thick around them shivered with his fury. Sakumo whined again, moving nearer and pressing his nose to Orochimaru's cheek.

He allowed it, leaning into Sakumo for a brief second before they pulled apart and Sakumo once more followed his mate's lead, trusting him to find their son. Orochimaru moved to Manda's head, conferring with him quietly, and Manda hissed loudly enough to send several dusty fragments of broken rock and plaster shivering and tumbling from where they had fallen.

Orochimaru said something with a snappish edge as Sakumo approached, eyes narrow and body tense, and Manda hissed again, then bowed his head briefly. He moved off, and Orochimaru looked at Sakumo, tipping his head a fraction.

They followed after the great snake as he slithered towards the village proper. Sakumo didn't ask whether he intended to stop before he reached the boundary where buildings began to come closer together. _Kakashi._ Finding his cub was all he could focus on right now. All he cared about.

Manda did not stop, but he was . . . unusually careful - Sakumo had few memories of seeing the snake summoned, but he had never been terribly cautious - as he wound through the fringes of Konoha to whatever destination Orochimaru had in mind. And Konoha itself was unusually, but . . . unsurprisingly quiet as they made their way through the village.

Between just _Manda_ and the twin blankets of their killing intent choking the air, Sakumo suspected even most of the jounin would want to be far away from all of them. He kept his senses attuned to anyone who might approach all the same, however, wary - knowing that they had. . . What they had done officially constituted an attack on Konoha.

Sakumo couldn't really care at the moment, every fibre of his being howling for the safe return of his cub. There was an underlying thrum of _rightness_ within him; he was hunting with his mate at his side. It spoke to his heart all the more for the assurances he had heard that Orochimaru was _gone_; monster, betrayer, somehow broken away from him.

Manda stopped, and Sakumo followed Orochimaru up near his head, inspecting the area they stood in and the building that Orochimaru's harsh gaze was fixed upon.

"Crush it?" Manda inquired before Sakumo could speak, and Orochimaru hissed. The great snake answered with a furious sound of his own but Orochimaru didn't back down.

"My _child_." Orochimaru snapped, and Manda shrugged his coils but settled, his head lowering.

"What is _this_?" Sakumo asked tentatively, watching Orochimaru hold out his hands, summoning dozens more snakes, white and brown and green and violet and more, unleashing them in spilling, slithering waves from up his sleeves - the smallest of them were longer than Orochimaru was tall.

"Shimura Danzo's base . . . and labs." Orochimaru's body was tense as he led Sakumo in the wake of his snakes to what proved to be a hidden door. "Manda, as long as my child . . . and none of the others," he added as Sakumo's eyes widened, "are harmed, please _do_ . . . _crush_."

"Children?" Sakumo repeated, the sick feeling intensifying. "Other cubs?"

"I . . . was perhaps a fool, to think that what he has been doing was truly on sensei's orders." Orochimaru said, with a tinge of regret shading his voice. "I was not the first to work with him, although . . . my experiments yielded results, where none other's had."

Sakumo didn't want to ask. He had not wanted to believe what they told him of the reason for his mate's exile . . . and then wanted to believe it had _all_ been lies, when he found his mate bereft of their child, hurting, and precisely the same creature he knew so well. But he resolved not to let his belief in his beloved mate shake so easily this time.

And for now . . . Kakashi was the only important thing.

Sakumo's throat tightened as they stepped into a dark, choking corridor that smelled of neglect and weapon oil and dull fear. "Our cub is _here_?" he growled quietly as they paused, the snakes flowing on ahead of them, a wave that glittered in the sunlight from the door. Orochimaru's eyes flicked to him.

"I can't be sure." Orochimaru said, but. . .

Sakumo nodded, scenting as they moved deeper into the building - venturing underground, and even the more expansive spaces they passed through felt looming and close - like a trap. He glanced to his mate, but Orochimaru's strides were as sure as ever, and Sakumo took a little confidence from that. Even though he could still scent that bitter hint of fear from his mate, keeping his stomach tied in knots.

Sakumo froze, drawing a deeper breath and ignoring the snake hissing a complaint for his getting in its path as it looped around his ankle. He had been allowing Orochimaru to go ahead, happy for his more knowledgeable mate to lead, but now. . .

Sakumo took off running, ignoring everything but the scent filling his nose. _His cub_, a faint twist of scent thick with blood and venom and fear and anger. "Sakumo!" Orochimaru called behind him, startled.

"_Kakashi._" Sakumo snarled in answer, not slowing as he rounded a corner and was faced suddenly with a solid metal door. Sakumo slammed the guard into and then through it with a mingled crunch of wood and bone, the metal door clattering as it hit the floor on the other side. He could hear the whisper of sound from his mate's running steps at his heels as he breathed, following the traces.

Another door, this one unguarded, burst open even more easily, and he could _hear_ Kakashi now, _howling_ wordlessly, thin and reedy with pain and fear and despair. Sakumo's heart pounded and his jaw itched with the need to hunt down whoever had drawn these sounds from his cub. A soft curse in a sibilant, furious tone from his mate only encouraged the vicious need Sakumo felt. _He_ could hear Kakashi as well, and his protective rage clearly matched Sakumo's.

Sakumo finally faltered, though, when he crashed into the room where their son was held, shock stealing his breath and lighting new and harsher fury in his breast.

Kakashi was curled tight in the corner of a _steel barred cage_, tiny body tucked as small as he could make himself, and though his little face was raised in a howl, it was also striped with heavy black leather and metal, keeping his jaw from opening fully and barring his mouth. Sakumo's own jaw dropped open around a snarl, deep and rough, even as Orochimaru darted past him.

Kakashi looked towards them and his howl fell with a warbling note. "Mama? _Daddy!_" He struggled to his feet but toppled immediately to his knees, crawling out of the back corner of the cage trapping him. Orochimaru ripped the whole front of the cage off just as Sakumo reached them, taking in the bloodied scrapes and dark bruises on his cub's face and thin arms. He rumbled as softly as he could manage in welcome, echoed by his mate's low murmur, and Kakashi sobbed as he climbed into Sakumo's arms, clinging hard and shaking.

Orochimaru pressed close, pinning Kakashi safely between their bodies, as Sakumo freed one hand and scrabbled at the muzzle, desperate to _get it off_. Orochimaru tucked a blade into his hand, and in a moment the straps were severed and it fell loose in his mate's hand with one quick pull. Kakashi buried his face and a renewed howl in Sakumo's shoulder, wracked with shudders as Sakumo wrapped him into a snug embrace. Orochimaru stroked his back with a gentle touch, seemingly unable to drag his gaze from their cub, but he was fairly shaking himself with rage that lit his fierce eyes.

Sakumo struggled to even out his breathing, not to snarl, to keep from giving his own howl along with Kakashi's. His cub had been put in a muzzle, thrown in a cage, trapped and bound and- Orochimaru's fingers brushed his face and Sakumo turned into his mate's callused palm, closing his eyes as he struggled to control himself.

They had Kakashi tucked snugly between them, he was freed, he was safe - nothing of the like would ever touch him again. Sakumo growled, low and hard, spreading a hand across Kakashi's ribs protectively, leaning into his mate to further shelter their cub between them.

A sound behind Sakumo made him stiffen further, hackles prickling.

"Release the subject!"

Sakumo twitched, resisting the urge to let his muscles tighten as he cradled Kakashi carefully. He turned to face the source of the shout.

Orochimaru had already begun to move towards the squad of mostly blank-faced nin, slipping into the smooth hunting glide that made him look even more like his snakes; the hateful contraption they'd ripped away from Kakashi's face still dangled from the fingertips of one hand. "_My son_ is not your _subject_, he is a child; _my child_." Orochimaru said in an acid tone. "You _dared_ take him?"

"_Who put my son in a muzzle?_" Sakumo demanded, words barely shaped out of the snarl he couldn't have held back if he tried.

One of the newly-entered ninja took an unsteady step backwards. Kakashi sobbed and whimpered into Sakumo's shoulder, and he held his cub tighter for a moment, nuzzling him comfortingly. Then he put Kakashi gently down as one of the larger snakes Orochimaru had summoned approached. Kakashi whined, but a pat on the head as the familiar python wrapped itself protectively around his body quieted him, and he wrapped his arms around one thick coil instead. Assured his cub was safely settled in Nori's guarding clasp, Sakumo moved to meet a lunge with both hands, catching the hilt of the short blade and wrenching it to one side with a crack of bone.

He took that moment to skim a glance over the rest of the squad.

One of the others was screaming and twitching on the floor near Orochimaru's feet already, and though two more were circling him they kept a wary distance. Sakumo left his mate to his fight and freed a hand to palm the blade Orochimaru had passed him again, driving it squarely past his attacker's rather lacking guard and into his chest. Sakumo let the man fall with the blade still lodged between his ribs and lunged, ducking the swing of a sword, catching one of the other ninja with one hand and dragging him around to intercept a third attacker's strike.

The short sword drove into his body, coming nowhere near Sakumo himself. He stole a glance at his cub - Kakashi was staring past Sakumo, wide-eyed as he watched his mother, still clinging to the snake coiled around him. Safe and with no enemies near him.

Someone caught hold of Sakumo's hair as he dropped the man he'd held, bleeding badly, to the floor. He would have laughed at the ridiculousness of the attempt to bring him down or restrain him if he weren't so enraged, even as the same person hooked an arm around his bicep. He twisted as they pulled and sank his teeth into the thick muscle at the base of the neck, conveniently bared by their armour, sparking chakra to his jaw as he bit down harder.

There was a satisfying crack between his teeth and the thrum of a muffled screech joined the taste of blood on his tongue. Opening his jaw, Sakumo kicked away the dying body and drew himself up to take the next attack, only to find it faltering, the now-swordless nin's eyes shifting towards the body on the floor and then fixing on Sakumo's face.

He bared his teeth and snarled, lunging, and had to actually give chase to catch them. He sidestepped, leaning back to dodge the kunai that scored a line across his flak jacket, then gave a sharp punch just below the unshielded collarbones. He twisted the kunai out of their hand and drove it through their throat, ignoring the kick he left himself open to in the process, a blow that bruised his hip and side.

He drew a quick breath as he glanced at Kakashi - still safe, tucked in Nori's coils - scenting mostly the blood that had spilt over his tongue and coated his jaw and cheeks, and whirled to face his mate once sure he was clear of any further attacks. Orochimaru rose from his crouch in a blur, the sleek fall of his hair curling around his shoulders with a snap as he twisted, a glint of metal in his hand visible for an instant before it sank up under the jaw of the closest attacking nin - the only one still facing him.

Blood spattered the floor around him, but he was clean, save for his hands. He turned with a flick that sent his hair sliding back over his shoulder, eyes bright with self-satisfied fury and lips curled into a cruel smirk. He twisted the small, narrow blade in his hand around with a flicker of blurring red-and-silver that all but wound around his fingers, skimming the bodies surrounding him with a dismissive glance.

None of them moved.

Orochimaru glanced over Sakumo, then the smirk faded and his eyes warmed, the blade disappearing into a sleeve as he moved towards their cub. Something moved and Sakumo tensed, a growl building in his throat as he crossed the room in long strides and caught the one surviving enemy nin by his shirt, hauling him up and shoving him against the nearest wall with a solid _thump_.

Sakumo paused when he scented-

He dipped his head, searching, and quickly found a livid purplish-red discolouration stretching up from under a blood-sodden bandage around the man's forearm. "My cub prove too much for you?" he questioned, viciously pleased to see the signs of Kakashi's venom, closing his hand over the bandage and eliciting an agonised cry with the pressure. "What did you plan to _do_ to him? _With_ him?" He remembered his mate's words as the man only shook his head, yelping, and- "What did _Danzo_ want with my cub?" he demanded, shaking the nin.

A gentle touch made him jump, tilting his head to look around. His mate, as instinct had surmised, and cradling their cub in one arm, a more slender snake coiled about his shoulders and Kakashi's. "They won't know." Orochimaru told him quietly, mouth twisting and eyes narrow. "Danzo may be the only one who does. Come, we should find his files before something . . . _happens_ to them."

Sakumo wavered, trusting his mate but still wishing to wring the knowledge out of the enemy he had _in front of him_. His mate's eyes flicked to the man he held. "Were you the one to muzzle my child?" Orochimaru asked in a soft, dangerous tone. Sakumo growled softly, glancing at the thin pink lines of raw flesh on his cub's face where the hateful contraption had bound him.

"N- no!" the man denied, shaking his head and cringing. "The fucking brat _bit_ me, I was bleeding on the floor; they told me later what they had to do to get him in the cage, I'm glad I missed it."

Sakumo's fingers tightened and the nin's face shaded further towards ash grey.

Orochimaru took a sinuous step closer, Kakashi turning his face away from the enemy nin to hide in his mother's throat with a tiny whine. "You should be." Orochimaru said in that same low tone.

"You've had a taste of my son's venom." Orochimaru's voice was even and carefully measured. The man whimpered, and Orochimaru shifted, sliding into a movement too quick for even Sakumo to follow; he caught up after there was a delicate senbon embedded in the man's shoulder at the base of his throat. "Try mine; see how _that_ takes you."

Sakumo shoved the man back against the wall once more and let him fall, crumpling at its base with a breathy cry, as Orochimaru trailed a hand down his arm, tugging gently to lead him away. Sakumo followed with a last growl, and Kakashi lifted his head, peeking over Orochimaru's shoulder, through his hair.

Sakumo found a weak smile for his cub, gentling the rumble in his throat, and Kakashi whined softly back, sniffling. Orochimaru cradled him a little tighter and leaned his jaw against Kakashi's head, every gesture and line of his body speaking of possessive and protective affection. Sakumo moved a little closer, breathing in as he kept an eye on their surroundings. The fear souring Orochimaru's scent had cleared, though it was still thick with anger; Kakashi's terror had faded to a faint note as well, to Sakumo's relief.

Orochimaru reached back, fingertips trailing over the inside of Sakumo's forearm, and turned to lead them down another corridor, one echoing with faint sounds of destruction. At a guess, Sakumo suspected the sounds were from Manda at work in another part of the complex. Orochimaru paused a few steps shy of a door that made Sakumo's nose itch with _something wrong_, chakra and ink and steel, then turned and gently deposited Kakashi against Sakumo's chest, feathering a caress across his brow. Kakashi lifted his head into the touch with a needy sound, but cuddled into Sakumo's embrace.

A flash of rapid seals from graceful hands and Orochimaru removed a section of the wall with a doton, a crunching slide that left the door untouched. Kakashi ducked his head with a weak little cough, and Orochimaru glanced at them with a small, concerned frown.

Sakumo patted his back gently and carefully followed Orochimaru into the space beyond, which proved to be an office. He slanted a curious look at his mate.

"Danzo's." Orochimaru said shortly, snorting. "I'm going to see what I can find in his files." He paused, rummaging through one of his pouches, and Sakumo settled on a clear patch of desk to wait, still cradling Kakashi close. Before he stepped away, Orochimaru handed Sakumo a water canteen and brushed Kakashi's cheek with his knuckles.

Sakumo helped Kakashi drink, _slowly_, as his mate rifled through drawers and files and boxes, picking locks and breaking seals as he came to them with little pause. A few snakes found their way into the office, roaming the space briefly, reporting to Orochimaru. They made their way out again, back into the complex or out into the village proper. Sakumo rumbled soothingly, rocking Kakashi against his chest. He still sniffled from time to time and whimpered under his breath, but he'd calmed quite a bit.

Sakumo looked up as a bundle of papers hit the desk nearby. Orochimaru was coming back to them again, eyes narrowed and face twisted unhappily. "Nothing on Kakashi. Whatever he intended with our son, either it's just not _here_ or it's nowhere but his foul head." he spat, and Sakumo spared a hand to reach for his distressed mate.

Orochimaru sighed through his nose, bowing gently under Sakumo's touch and moving closer, sliding up onto the desk with them himself. He hooked one leg across Sakumo's thighs, curling tight around Kakashi and leaning firmly against Sakumo's shoulder.

Sakumo shuddered at the suddenly expansive contact, swallowing down a whine for his cub's sake. He'd missed Kakashi and Orochimaru while he was gone on his mission, then returned home only to have his heart dashed; been struck with desperate worry, sickened. His cub gone, his mate taking the blame not only for that but accused of having been deceiving everyone including Sakumo himself. . . For him to have them both safe and close; Kakashi whimpering and crying but warm and clingy, Orochimaru tense and fierce but warm-eyed and all-encompassingly protective, entirely _himself_ . . . Sakumo _needed_ them, and he clung to both mate and cub desperately.

Orochimaru searched his face, then gently settled his head down on Sakumo's shoulder, one arm curling around Kakashi and the other resting on Sakumo's hip, knuckles rubbing in firm, reassuring strokes. A breath. A moment. Settling.

Kakashi shifted in Sakumo's arms, but his tears had stopped some time ago. He made a wordlessly needy little sound, looking up at them, and then closed his eyes as they wrapped him yet more snugly between their bodies. Sakumo crooned to his cub, lowering his head.

"You're safe, my little one." Orochimaru promised in a low voice as soft as a wolf's deepest winter undercoat, fingers brushing over Kakashi's hair.

Kakashi sagged in the tight space between them, his eyes drooping, his poor little face splotched with blood and bruises. And the raw stripes where the straps of the muzzle had dug into him. Sakumo swallowed hard, trying to calm himself from that thought. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, focusing on the scents of his mate and cub, filtering out everything that was not intrinsic to the pair of them, to his _family_, however pervasive so much of the 'other' around them was.

Orochimaru raised his head, gently nuzzling Sakumo's ear, and ran his fingertips over Kakashi's face from hairline down over his temple and curving behind his ear. "We need to make sure these are seen. Not by Hiruzen," he hissed with distaste, shaking his head, "perhaps . . . the Clan Heads. What Root has grown into. . . See him justify it to them. When Danzo wishes it to take _their_ children." His fingers tightened briefly in Kakashi's hair, not even enough to stir him.

"Their children?" Sakumo repeated, his voice rough.

Orochimaru met his eyes fearlessly. "No one cared when they told me _it must be done_ with captured enemy nin." he said softly, and Sakumo tensed. "No one cared when they told me _it must be done_ with those stolen from enemy lands. And Danzo told me, and many others, _it must be done, the Hokage has ordered this_, and presented me with infants to try and make stronger for Konoha. And he took children to train into his vision of perfection, all under his exclusive command."

Sakumo felt sick, reaching for his mate though they were already close. Orochimaru let his head dip, fitting his cheek into Sakumo's palm and looking up to meet his gaze with dark, saddened eyes. "I . . . should not have acted so. I would not, again."

Sakumo nodded, and asked no further questions, not here and now. He slipped off the desk, still cradling Kakashi close, and drew his mate down after himself. Orochimaru leaned against him for a moment, brow resting against his temple, and Sakumo held still, arm curled around Orochimaru's waist to keep him there. He made a soft appreciative sound in Sakumo's ear and lingered in the half-embrace for long moments as Sakumo rubbed his side.

Then he pulled away, gathering the papers and the hateful muzzle from the desk once more and pacing Sakumo back out of the office. The crashing sounds of of Manda's destruction grew nearer, and Sakumo glanced at the office and wished it good riddance as they left it behind.

They moved quicker on the way out, careful as they ran past or over Orochimaru's snakes roaming the compound, and Sakumo drew a great breath as they emerged into the air once more - though not in the same place they had entered, they were now closer to central Konoha. He tilted his head towards his mate with a curious hum.

Orochimaru came closer, eliciting a pleased sound from Kakashi, and Sakumo pressed their brows together, nosing his mate's cheek. He closed his eyes and basked in the contact for a moment, Orochimaru's hand sliding over his side and hip.

He could feel the taut muscle of one of Orochimaru's snakes sliding from his yukata to slip in under Kakashi's shirt, and shifted his arm to give them space to hide closer to his cub's body, thankful for the extra protection they offered. Sakumo had no intention of releasing his cub any time soon, but there was no harm in being cautious with him. He nuzzled Orochimaru again gently, then forced himself to draw away. Orochimaru's eyes were closed, and he frowned, tiny lines crinkling around them as Sakumo backed off.

Sakumo forced down the instinct-driven urge to simply nuzzle his mate until Orochimaru was happy and gentle again, brushing their noses together only once more. He took a breath, then leaned back. "You wish to take those," he nodded downwards, "to the Clan Heads?"

Orochimaru frowned a little more even as he opened his eyes. "I think it is the best thing we _can_ do." he said, though his eyes were shadowed. "It may prove pointless, but if anyone can exert enough pressure to correct things, it would have to be the Clan Heads."

Sakumo nodded, nosing Orochimaru's cheek again, his mate's silky hair falling across his jaw and lips before he stepped back. He reached up and bit his thumb sharply, then ran through the simple seals around Kakashi's body.

"Wolves, Daddy?" he said, perking up a little - though he still clung quite close - and Sakumo smiled.

Half a dozen of his smaller, sleeker wolves popped into the world around them. He brushed his hand over thick fur and eager heads as they circled close, sniffing and yipping and offering concern and protective anger and questions. Sakumo explained very quickly, then asked them to go find as many Clan Heads as they could and ask them to meet him at Hokage Tower. He glanced at Orochimaru, hesitating over the location, but his mate's jaw tightened, eyes flashing, and he nodded, sending them off.

Sakumo sighed, nuzzling his cub's brow as Kakashi leaned against him, then tipping his jaw higher to let Kakashi's head settle beneath as he started for Hokage Tower once again. He could not think of any time in his life he had been _less_ eager to reach it.

Even the presence of Orochimaru at his shoulder and Kakashi curled safe in his arms could only do so much to settle him as he tried to think what the Clan Heads - the _other_ Clan Heads - would do with the information on what Danzo had been doing. On the stolen children. On. . . Sakumo shook his head slightly, focusing on the way ahead of him.

"Sakumo." Orochimaru's fingers brushed his side, and Sakumo came to a stop again, turning towards his mate. Orochimaru's eyes dropped to Kakashi's head and turned sad, then fierce again as they rose to meet his own. "Wolf-heart, you. . . Even if the Clan Heads _do_ act to rein in Danzo, and . . . and Hiruzen," he took a breath, "do we wish to try and remain in Konoha?" he asked softly.

Sakumo's eyes widened at the suggestion implied, and Orochimaru returned his attention to their cub, head bowed, murmuring reassurances as Kakashi stirred again and looked for his mother. A brush of lips to his brow and a gentle hiss when he fidgeted and Kakashi snuggled back into Sakumo's shoulder, relaxing.

"I don't know." Sakumo said honestly, hoping it was good enough. Konoha was his home, was where his Clan had settled and given their loyalty when asked, but. . . But. Sakumo had a small pack - tiny, in fact, with all his Clan now gone, save. . . His arms tightened around his cub.

His mate, his cub. Konoha had turned out the one and evidently all but sanctioned the theft and torment of the other.

Sakumo had a wolf's heart and it belonged to his pack, his family.

"I don't know if I _can_." he admitted. "Not if things don't change. Not after. . ." Orochimaru nodded shallowly. "And I _won't_ be parted from you; either of you. Not again." Sakumo growled fiercely, showing his fangs.

He was rewarded with a tiny smile; the first he'd seen grace his mate's face in too long, and the growl faded immediately. Orochimaru brushed his jaw with a light touch. "I love you too, wolf. We will see together, then."

Kakashi yipped softly, and Orochimaru kissed the top of his head. "Hush, my little cub." he soothed in a warm tone. "We have some things to see to yet before the day is done, but you shall stay with us." he promised.

Sakumo snorted, nosing Kakashi's hair and meeting his mate's gaze. Orochimaru arched an eyebrow and gave a slanted smirk. No, Orochimaru had no more intention of letting their cub out of their sight than Sakumo did, he was certain.

Sakumo glanced towards Hokage Tower again, then resumed heading towards it, Orochimaru keeping pace and blocking him on the side he carried Kakashi.

* * *

Tobirama took a moment as the smoke cleared around him to reorient himself. A breath - unneeded - and a flare of his senses as he took in the people before him-

"Saru-kun? Danzo-kun?" Tobirama asked, _knowing_ it was them but thrown briefly all the same. It had clearly been some time since his death . . . and something serious had occurred, for them to activate the emergency scroll he had left behind to summon him. "Explain. The threat?" he ordered.

"Sensei. . ." Hiruzen looked lost for words, staring at him.

Danzo moved closer, pointing, and Tobirama obligingly looked. "There!"

Tobirama's brows rose at the tremor of fear spiking in Danzo's chakra, then further as he took in the indicated . . . 'threat'. "You summoned me from the Pure Lands, with the scroll I prepared in case of a _dire threat_ to Konoha, to deal with what appears to be two nin already in the village?" he paused. "One of whom appears to be wearing a Konoha hitai-ate. And _carrying a toddler_." He wheeled around. "Explain."

"A toddler?" Hiruzen said, startled, moving forwards and then freezing. "They brought Kakashi?"

"Did you expect them to be able to find a babysitter before coming back to destroy us?" Danzo countered sharply, but there was a shiver in his manner; a tiny flinch. A lie.

"The child?" Tobirama asked, only to flinch minutely as the pair - the trio - came closer; close enough for the acid buffeting of killing intent radiating from them to become a nigh physical thing. He flared his senses and huffed, surprised at the strength of it . . . and that the nightmarish weight tinged with bitter acid was only one of the signatures.

"Should we be stopping them?"

Tobirama tilted his head, glancing at a figure in a painted porcelain mask.

A laugh from another, mask painted differently, but wearing the same uniform. "_No._" He tilted his head towards the other. "What? I _remember_ when there were more Hatake, kid. That one's only just got his partner back - seems to think he's been wronged - and looks like his kid's been through the wringer. _I'm_ not getting anywhere _near_ him."

Tobirama's eyes darted back to the man carrying the child. Silver-white hair, true - and on the child - but that wasn't so remarkable as to be-

The child _did_ look worse for wear; his tiny face was discoloured with scabs and bruises, striped oddly with raw pink as the little group continued to approach. And-

"The threat you summoned me for is two men from our own village and a battered toddler who appears to have been _put in a muzzle_?" Tobirama demanded, voice icy.

"Orochimaru, how _could_ you?" Hiruzen asked, and Tobirama glanced at him as he stepped forwards to meet the approaching . . . threat. "Even after everything you've done, the depths you've sunk to, I didn't think you could go so low as to turn on your _home_."

The second man, the one holding the tiny muzzle in one hand, shifted with a sharp, taut little gesture. "What _I've_ done?" he demanded sharply.

"The _child_, Saru-kun." Tobirama prompted, his patience very thin.

Hiruzen looked at him. "Ah- Orochimaru was- was once my student. He even aspired to take my place as Hokage. . . He married the last of the Hatake. Kakashi." he nodded towards them as Tobirama's breath caught; _last?_ "Kakashi is their son. I can't believe he would- Sakumo, you-"

"My cub was caged and muzzled, _Hokage-sama_," Sakumo snarled, baring fangs even more impressive than Tobirama remembered his mother's being, "you certainly might not believe what I am inclined to _do about this_."

Hiruzen began to speak, but he was drowned out by a sudden frightened yip from the child - the Hatake cub. Sakumo instantly softened, bowing his head, and Orochimaru stepped closer to the pair, the cub whimpering but settling under a kiss to his brow.

"Mama, that's the man who took me away!"

Tobirama tensed, eyes narrowing. Sharp golden eyes rose and slid right past him, gleaming with fury.

"He came and he promised Mama would be there but Mama wasn't it was just-" the boy broke off into wavering yelps, burying his face in his father's shoulder as one big hand came up to cup his head.

"You put a child in a muzzle?" Tobirama turned enough to fix his own eyes on Danzo.

Danzo's shoulders were straight and tense. "You're going to believe-"

"You've already called me a liar, Danzo," an angry snap of a deep voice followed by the smack of paper landing on stone, "will you tar my son the same and have _him_ exiled from Konoha for your crimes as well?"

Tobirama glanced at the papers splayed on the low wall beside them, taking in only a few scattered notes from them, and Danzo's name stamped across them for authorisation, then the man who had spoken. He didn't flinch . . . and he stood half-shielding the cub and the man holding him with his position.

"You put a _Hatake cub_ in a _muzzle_?" Tobirama demanded icily as he returned his gaze to Danzo.

"He was _biting_." Danzo said, taking half a step back. "He was biting and he's _venomous_, just like the treacherous snake he calls his _mother_."

"My mother was Hatake." Tobirama reminded in an even tone.

Hiruzen let out a little _oh_ somewhere behind him.

"You're our cousin, Nidaime-sama?"

Tobirama blinked, glancing at Sakumo. He was still holding his cub tight, but his expression had relaxed a little beneath the broad streaks of drying blood.

"A few generations removed, perhaps," Tobirama said dryly, "but . . . yes. My mother was Hatake Atsukari." He looked back with interest and concern as the cub lifted his head, little nose twitching as he sniffed, and looked his way.

Tobirama had to fight not to wince as he took in the boy's face. The pink marks were swollen and raw, his mouth was bloodied and swollen in several places, there were deep purple bruises and shallow but bloody scrapes scattered across his brow, cheeks, and chin. "Are you all right, little . . . cousin?" he asked gently.

The cub eyed him, but with less suspicion now - he was a Hatake, however young; his father claimed Tobirama as family, and Tobirama had confirmed it himself. Tobirama wasn't _too_ surprised at his reaction.

"Hurts." the cub said, leaning his face into his father's neck.

"Orochimaru was _exiled_ for his traitorous, abominable experiments!" Hiruzen broke in. "Whatever has happened to Kakashi _must_ be dealt with, certainly, but. . . Orochimaru," his voice saddened, "I do not know how you could have become this - perhaps you always were and I never saw it. . ."

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed and he bared his teeth, sharper than most but much smaller than those of his Hatake partner.

"Experiments?" Tobirama inquired mildly.

"I have done . . . terrible things in the name of my village, under orders I was told came from the Hokage himself;" Orochimaru said calmly, "things I . . . regret, now. Things I would not repeat, had I the chance. All I wish now is my family . . . and their safety."

Tobirama nodded understanding, meeting Orochimaru's eyes with sympathy.

"You _know_ I would never-"

"Hiruzen." Tobirama snapped, and he fell silent. "Authorised by," he turned his gaze to Danzo, who froze, "I take it you were behind those as well?" He reached for the papers spread over the low stone wall before him, but had to change course as Danzo suddenly began to move, collaring him with one hand and slapping a restrictive seal on him with the other.

"Sakumo! We came as- What's going _on_?"

Tobirama looked around and smothered a sigh. Inuzuka - along with a group of other people. He heard someone mutter Orochimaru's name and saw several dark looks.

"Why is Shimura being restrained by- _Nidaime-sama?_"

Orochimaru turned and held the tiny muzzle high. "Danzo, who _oversaw_ the experiments for which I was cast out," his lip curled, "_kidnapped my son_, caged him, and muzzled him. _That_," he spat, eyes narrowing, "is why I am _back again_, Inokyou, despite being _well informed I am not wanted_."

Sakumo snarled and the cub raised his head with a tiny mirror of the expression and a quiet, hitching sound that didn't quite rumble, despite his battered mouth; one of the splits in his lip began to bleed.

Orochimaru's expression immediately gentled and he hissed softly, turning back and brushing his fingers over the cub's cheek. "Hush, my little cub. It's all right." he crooned soothingly, and the cub sniffed and quieted. Orochimaru's gaze flicked up to Sakumo's face, with a slanted smirk. "Unnecessary, wolf." he said, with a fond lilt.

An incensed cry, almost a bark, from the assembled- "He _muzzled a pup_?"

Tobirama took a step sideways, eyeing the fierce Inuzuka approaching, a youngster with a distressed expression following in her wake. Danzo moved, but only to slide behind Hiruzen. Tobirama's lip curled.

"Is your pup all right?" her tone was still overloud, but gentler.

"He will be." Orochimaru answered, voice a little strained, as Sakumo offered a low whuff. "Thank you, Haruashi-san."

"Faced with your own actions," Tobirama said, striding towards Hiruzen and Danzo, "you go running to hide behind your rival and teammate? Perhaps you _haven't_ changed so very much, Danzo-kun. Still a _coward_."

Danzo's breath caught and he took half a step back, one hand on Hiruzen's shoulder.

"I suggest we take this _inside_." Tobirama suggested, gesturing expectantly at the Hokage Tower nearby and then collecting the papers that Orochimaru had brought. He raised an eyebrow as the tiny muzzle landed atop them, then saw Orochimaru scrubbing his fingers hard against the hem of the short yukata he wore. Tobirama . . . couldn't blame him for wishing himself free of the hateful thing that had bound his child. "All of us." he added, tilting his head in a more gentle insistence to the small family.

He put himself between them and Hiruzen and Danzo, already walking in, cowed - at least for the moment. Orochimaru still stayed in front of Sakumo and their child.

"Oh no, not without us!"

Tobirama turned and stopped, crossing his arms.

"The Clan Heads. Some of them." Sakumo explained, rubbing his son's back. "I asked them to come, for," he nodded towards the papers Tobirama held, "the proof we brought. Our Hokage. . ." He glanced at Orochimaru.

"He listened to Danzo without question when he exiled me." Orochimaru said flatly, his eyes flashing. "I would not trust him not to do so again. Particularly when the proof was delivered by _my_ hand." he added bitterly.

A sleek white wolf with three steel-grey paws threaded through the Clan Heads and eyed Tobirama, nose twitching, as they stopped by Sakumo's hip. "Do you need us?" she asked, and Sakumo rested a hand on her head as she licked the cub's dangling leg.

Sakumo opened his mouth and-

"We can help the snakes!" Another wolf, rangier and thinner, bounded up. Tobirama stepped aside to give them room.

"Unnecessary." Sakumo said, though his eyes were hard. "Wait, if you will, though."

The wolves yipped agreement and trotted away, and Tobirama spotted several more circling the Tower, joining up with them. He moved on ahead of the little family but paused and glanced back at them. "Snakes?" he inquired.

"_My_ summons." Orochimaru said, and Tobirama nodded, not asking further questions as he moved ahead to guide Hiruzen and Danzo into what proved to still be a private meeting room. In fact it looked as though little had changed in it at all since last he saw it.

"Quiet." Tobirama instructed the Clan Heads, pointing to one side of the room. "Sit." he ordered his erstwhile subordinates. He turned to the remaining three and- "Does your cub need medical attention?" he asked belatedly, frowning.

Orochimaru's eyes flashed. "I can take care of him." he said sharply. His eyes - his whole face, perhaps - were rather serpentine themselves, Tobirama observed, and put aside his curiosity. Sakumo wrapped a hand around his forearm and drew him away, the pair of them settling on a bench against the wall, the cub still held close but allowed to slide down to sit on his father's lap.

Tobirama dropped the muzzle to the table with a sneer and began to flick through the papers he held, skimming for prominent details, noting the authorisation they bore - and what authorisation was lacking. He made through several pages in their entirety without any interruption beyond the low murmur of voices well trained in secrecy and the soft whines and speech of the Hatake cub and his parents.

"Mom said to ask- Does your pup- cub need anything? Do you?"

Tobirama glanced aside and saw the adolescent Inuzuka speaking to the pair of jounin.

Orochimaru shook his head, not looking away from where he was helping the cub drink from a canteen. "Perhaps, but. . ."

"Bone broth." Sakumo answered in a low voice. "If you wouldn't mind. I'm not sure when Kakashi last had anything in his stomach."

"Of course!" the girl's voice was louder, and she glanced around at a chiding sound from her mother. "I'll be back!" she promised, and trotted off without even a glance at Tobirama or Hiruzen. Tobirama was a little impressed.

"Someone get me the Captain of the Military Police." he ordered, and one of the figures in a porcelain mask stepped forwards, bowed, with a glance at either Hiruzen or Danzo, and then was gone with a shunshin out the window. "Whoever that is." he muttered. "And who are these people?"

"Uchiha Hikaku is still Captain." someone said and Tobirama felt a pang of relief - and then a twitch. If the Military Police were still under what had been - as far as he had seen - competent leadership, then how. . . His gaze strayed to the battered child; Orochimaru was now inspecting his face with green-glowing fingertips as he held still, eyes fixed on Orochimaru's face in return.

"Those are the ANBU." Hiruzen supplied, and Tobirama arched an eyebrow. "Elite special operations forces, answerable only directly to the Hokage."

Tobirama glared flatly. "_Why_ did you need such a force?" he demanded.

"Sensei, we couldn't entrust everything to the _Uchiha_!" Hiruzen _actually_ looked horrified. Tobirama fought down a faint urge to scream. He had dealt with this ridiculous issue when he took over from his brother and it was _still_ a problem? And . . . from one of his own students. From someone who had-

Tobirama pinched the bridge of his nose. "Your special forces that you felt insufficient to defend you and the village from a threat dire enough to summon _me_ back from _death_ . . . which," he gestured to where the battered child wriggled and spoke softly, held on his parents' laps, "entailed _two jounin and their toddler_? What precisely are they useful for?"

"It wasn't only them, it was the summons-"

"I saw." Tobirama cut him off abruptly, waving off the wolves he had seen outside and the mention of snakes. "I still do _not_ see why the Military Police, _created for the purpose of order in Konoha_, were not sufficient for you - or indeed, to handle _this_ threat!" he snapped. "And," he turned his attention fully to Hiruzen, "the Military Police were _also_ created to remind people that we _do trust the Uchiha_!"

"Ah, sir?"

"What?" Tobirama turned, then- "Hikaku-san." he added, with a faint smile.

"Tobirama-sama!" Hikaku's eyes widened as Tobirama looked him over. He was recognisable, but he had grown old. "I- You're . . . here."

"Apparently there was a dire threat to Konoha." Tobirama said dryly, gesturing to the small family settled against the wall. Hikaku followed his gesture with a gratifyingly dubious look. "I am finding there does indeed seem to have been a dire threat . . . possibly more than one. _Why_ have you not been doing your job?" he demanded.

Hikaku jerked back, jaw clenching. "We have _always_ fulfilled the duties you entrusted to us, Hokage-sama." he said coldly.

Tobirama held up the papers. "And yet a secret organisation appears to have been operating under your noses," he glanced disdainfully at the pair of porcelain-masked ANBU, "all of your noses, without so much as an _investigation_ . . . even when a Konoha jounin was thrown out of the village for complicity in the _slim_ part of the plot that seems to have been uncovered. So again I ask you _why have you not been doing your job, Captain_?"

"Ho- Sandaime Hokage-sama has been explicitly ordering that we _not_ do our jobs." Hikaku flicked a glance at Hiruzen, eyes narrow and hot. "Sir."

Tobirama clamped down on a flare of rage. "Hiruzen? Would you care to explain this?"

"Danzo assured me that the experiments were solely Orochimaru's ambition and curiosity getting away with him!" Hiruzen said, shaking his head and looking at Orochimaru for a moment before his gaze dropped to the table. "He has always been a cold boy, lacking the understanding of what is truly important for a ninja. For all of us."

"Did he also _assure you_ that he wasn't running a secret organisation, forces picked and trained to be superior even to the ANBU, answerable only to himself?"

Tobirama shot a glance over his shoulder and met golden eyes.

"Taken and trained as children." Orochimaru said, eyes dropping to the files. "I . . . was not aware of the extent." His fingers curled visibly tighter around his son's shoulder. "When Sakumo told me our son was missing. . ."

"Mama?" Kakashi whimpered, lifting his face and sniffing.

"Shush, little one." Orochimaru soothed, voice wavering faintly, stroking his hair. Kakashi strained towards him and Sakumo helped him shift over, snuggling into Orochimaru's open arms. "My little cub. It's all right." His arms wrapped around his child as though comforting himself as much as the cub.

Tobirama took a deep breath and let it out, forcing himself to be calm as he tuned out the soft reassurances and the little sounds of a fussing child.

"So you pinned _your crimes_," Tobirama raised his voice as Danzo drew a breath, probably to protest, "on a comrade, then _kidnapped_ his _barely toddling_ son to train into your - treasonous - special forces unit?"

"A special forces unit our village _needed_ to stay on top!" Danzo argued, spreading his hands, palms inwards, just above the table. "Iwa and Kusa nip at our borders and we _must_ be the stronger! Even now we creep towards another war. I shaped Root because it was _needed_ and no one else would form such a force;" he glared at Hiruzen, "too _spineless_ to do what is necessary to protect our village and our interests."

"This unit which you crafted by . . . kidnapping children?" Tobirama suggested, ice creeping into his tone. "Like this one? Children far, far too young to begin _training_, even _with_ their parents' permission?"

"That _toddler_ is the reason several of my men are dead!" Danzo drew himself up a little, jaw jutting towards the muzzle. "He's _venomous_ and he was biting; that's why the _muzzle_. What were my men supposed to do; allow themselves to be killed?"

"So your secret, elite of the elite, special unit . . . were outmatched by an angry toddler?" Tobirama questioned dryly. And he somehow seemed surprised that a kidnapped child had begun to bite - Hatake blood was hardly needed for _that_. Venomous or not. Although _that_. . .

"He promised Mama!" Kakashi suddenly cried, and Tobirama cut his eyes towards the child. "He _lied_! Mama wasn't there!"

Orochimaru bowed his head, shushing the cub quietly and rocking him, but sharp eyes sought Danzo out again. A flare of killing intent that staggered several people in the room spilled from him before he took a short, sharp breath and pulled it back in.

Kakashi didn't flinch at either the sharp wave or its removal, to Tobirama's interest, only winding a hank of Orochimaru's long hair around one hand and tugging gently. "Mama?" He gave a soft whine, curious rather than upset. Orochimaru hissed in return, stroking his son's back up and down in a slow rhythm, but he didn't lower his deadly glare from Danzo.

Tobirama hummed under his breath. "He promised Mama?" he repeated gently.

Kakashi looked at him, leaning against Orochimaru's chest, and Orochimaru's eyes snapped to Tobirama instead. "Promised Mama would be there. Said Mama wanted me. Mama left me at home." He looked up at Orochimaru, who hugged him tighter, kissing his brow, eyes closing briefly.

"If a stranger ever again tries to take you from our home and won't listen when you don't want to go, you are allowed to bite them, Kakashi." Sakumo said, his voice a rough rumble.

Kakashi craned his neck to look at his father, and Tobirama smothered a smile as he questioned the instruction dubiously. With all the uncertainty of a child warned many times _not_ to do something and yet suddenly granted permission.

"Returning to your . . . experiments?" Tobirama asked, running an assessing eye over Orochimaru. "What were you doing?"

Orochimaru glanced down into his son's face, then urged him gently back into his father's lap. He clung to the lock of hair as he went, but Orochimaru allowed it without protest. "I was brought in to make an attempt to graft Senju Hashirama's DNA into newborn children. Danzo," his eyes flicked away from Tobirama briefly, "had little luck with prior attempts, with prior _people_; thus-" he fell silent as Tobirama held up a hand.

"_Danzo?_" Tobirama prompted flatly. His brother's DNA? _His brother?  
_  
"The mokuton _built_ Konoha!" Danzo said, leaning forward a little. "It was one of the greatest weapons we - the greatest hidden village - ever had! I only wanted to bring it back into our forces! We were - we _are_ \- weaker for the lack, as none of his line inherited it, so-"

"And the results?" Tobirama interrupted, glancing at Orochimaru.

"All of the infants died." Orochimaru said, lips pressed into a flat line. Sakumo pulled Kakashi up into his arms, leaning subtly closer to Orochimaru, their shoulders pressing together. "There was some success in _my_ grafting," he glared, "but . . . their bodies were unstable. It wasn't immediate, and there were . . . a few promising children, but," he paused, catching his breath and looking at his son, "all sixty of them . . . still died." His voice was thick with regret and his eyes dark as he raised his hand to cradle his cub's, still curled into his hair.

Tobirama swept the muttering Clan Heads with a sharp look and they quieted again.

"A tragedy in the pursuit of a great strength lost." Danzo said, with a downcast expression. One that - not that Tobirama was surprised, not now - did not match the shiver running through his restrained chakra.

Tobirama's eyes narrowed and he extended his senses further, blanketing Konoha to the very walls and feeling out the patterns. In the meantime he turned to Orochimaru, inspecting him and focusing a sliver of attention on _his_ chakra. "And you thought this experiment had acceptable parameters? Acceptable _losses_?" he asked smoothly, his tone chill.

Orochimaru went perfectly still, eyes locked with Tobirama's. His chakra recoiled deeper within himself. "No. Not once the rate of risk - and failure - became clear." he replied evenly. "But I have always done as my Hokage - my _sensei_ \- ordered. When I was told that it was necessary . . . I bowed to that."

"I would never have countenanced such a thing!" Hiruzen protested stridently. "You _know_ that, or you should have!"

Tobirama ignored him. "Danzo?" he prompted.

"I never told him that." Danzo said, meeting Tobirama's eyes with a little huff.

Tobirama focused a little more on the odd chakra signature he could feel near one edge of the village, but beyond it there was something. . .

"Danzo is an old friend; sensei, _you_ know," Hiruzen shook his head, face saddened, "he would never countenance such a thing either. It pains me, but Orochimaru-"

"Hiruzen _he has admitted it_." Tobirama pointed out over an angry hiss. "Which of his lies do you wish to believe?"

Hiruzen fell silent with his mouth still open wide, and looked at his _old friend_.

Tobirama glanced over them all. "Sixty infants dead." he repeated, and caught a minute flinch around golden eyes and flash of sorrow on a face already creased with worry. "While that is a not unexpected mortality rate for even supposedly healthy infants with mokuton, if they all died, every last one - truly a tragedy," he paused, "if that is so, then why can I sense a living signature bearing the imprint of mokuton within the village?"

Orochimaru's head flew up again, eyes wide. "Alive?"

Danzo didn't react outwardly, but Tobirama resisted the urge to snarl as he _felt_ the reaction the man refused to show. "Were there any others . . . that you knew of?" he questioned Orochimaru, and he shook his head wordlessly.

"There. . . None of the prior attempts had even produced anything viable enough that the infants survived to be moved from the initial. . . There's truly- One of them is still alive?" Orochimaru asked, eyes gleaming wetly.

"There is only one signature, but I am intimately familiar with mokuton. It is unmistakable." Tobirama confirmed more gently.

"You not only condemned me for _your_ project," Orochimaru snapped, the glossy shine in his eyes gone in a few blinks as his look sharpened, "you _lied to me_?"

Tobirama formed a seal, and his clone nodded to him, then disappeared, signature reappearing not too far from the bright point of the mokuton-flavoured chakra he could sense. Tobirama left it to himself, gesturing firmly to Orochimaru in case he was thinking about actually getting up to go after Danzo personally.

He bared his teeth in a low hiss that wasn't particularly directed at Tobirama, and it gave him a moment's pause as this time a pair of long, gleaming fangs flicked forwards in Orochimaru's mouth. _Snake fangs._ Ah. Venomous Hatake cub . . . wolf teeth but venom from his other parent. A curious combination.

Tobirama pushed away the interesting thought easily enough, turning to Hikaku and the pair of Uchiha he had brought with him, the Military Police emblem on their shoulders. "I think for now Danzo would be best kept in _your_ custody; if you would, please?" He gestured towards Danzo.

Danzo . . . _bolted_.

Not towards the door - the Uchiha still stood blocking that path - but one of the windows.

For just a fraction of a heartbeat, watching Danzo vault easily though it, Tobirama entertained the thought of allowing Danzo to be reminded the hard way that he was _still bound by a chakra-restraining seal_. Then he darted to the window to follow and catch the thoughtless little idiot, sighing. He froze on the brink of leaping, eyes drawn from Danzo's plummeting form to a great purple shape, a snake large enough to encircle the Tower rearing up and-

The snake struck out at Danzo, catching him with a partial grip, and Tobirama's eyes widened. _How_ had he not sensed_ this_ outside?

Tobirama winced as Danzo disappeared into the snake's mouth with a powerful flick of its head, and a moment later he was gone. Tobirama took a single step back from the window, feeling Danzo's restrained chakra flare, then sputter out as the snake's neck and body contracted sharply.

"Summons." Tobirama murmured, remembering the correction to his threat assessment he had been offered. Two jounin, their toddler, and _summons_. "I am impressed by _that_ summon." he said quietly, beginning to turn his head only to stop, attention riveted on the window, as the snake peered inside with one eye.

"Danzo!" Hiruzen yelped.

"What?" the snake demanded with an almost petulant tone. "He smelled _all over_ like the place I was just crushing, where all the child humans were locked up. . ."

"_All_ the children?" Tobirama demanded sharply.

"That snake _ate_ Danzo-san!"

"Summoner _said_ I could eat that one." the snake said with a low hiss that made the air vibrate around them.

Tobirama - and several other people - looked around.

"He _stole my son_." Orochimaru said with bared teeth, cradling his son protectively close in one arm.

The snake shifted and a long blue tongue flicked through the window into the room. "Do I get to eat the other one too?" he asked, and Tobirama's brows rose.

"I think at the moment that is up to Nidaime-sama." Orochimaru said evenly, his lips twitching even as he cradled his son higher in his arms. His eyes flicked to Hiruzen and narrowed with distaste.

"All the children?" Tobirama repeated impatiently.

"Summoner said to crush if I liked," the snake said, nose all but pressing against the window frame, "as long as none of the children were hurt."

Tobirama could hear faint growling from two quarters - Sakumo and the Inuzuka Clan Head - and dark muttering from several more people that matched well with his own anger. Orochimaru stroked Kakashi's hair and down his neck and back, bowing his head to press his jaw against his son's temple, his face still twisted with anger or disdain.

The door opened, and Tobirama turned towards it, surprised. The Inuzuka girl paused in the doorway, meeting his gaze, then bowed and slipped inside, moving directly to the small family with only one tentative glance at the huge forked tongue flicking into the room through the window.

Tobirama's attention was drawn to the moving shadow on the floor which had come in alongside the Inuzuka, which soon resolved itself into a mildly startling number of serpents. They followed the same path she had.

"We found children."

"More children, Orochimaru."

"Sad ones."

"Starved ones."

"Blank ones."

"Locked up."

"Many more of them."

Orochimaru bared his teeth again, stretching out a hand. One of the snakes raised its head and slipped through his open palm, winding up into his sleeve. Tobirama mostly tuned out the room to focus on the chakra patterns of the village, finding his clone and the surviving child with his brother's mokuton quickly, but this time sparing further attention on exploring the area around the child.

There were signatures that read as young - untrained or partially trained, most of them - and he kicked himself for not paying attention before. Several were being gathered close by the clone he had sent, and Tobirama let himself be satisfied with that for the moment.

When he refocused on the room he found that yet more snakes - and some rather larger ones - had appeared. They covered a good portion of the floor, making several people discernibly uneasy - an impressive number of summons, which Orochimaru appeared to be maintaining without strain. To say nothing of the one out the window.

Kakashi had hold of one large, brilliant green serpent not far beyond the sizable, angular head. A dark tongue flicked out over his nose and he giggled, pulling the snake closer. A much smaller dusky purple snake head peeked out of his shirt collar.

The snakes filling the room were talking, almost drowning out the sound of the Nara Clan Head musing aloud about their numbers and eyeing Orochimaru speculatively. He glanced back at the window just as the great blue tongue flicked into the room again, and _all_ the Clan Heads edged a little further away from it.

"Enemy nest destroyed."

"Enemies dead or gone."

"Came back to report, Orochimaru."

"Big nest."

"_Cold_ nest."

"Not good for hatchlings."

"Hatchlings kept apart."

"No warmth."

"No air."

"No _prey_."

"Yes, yes." Orochimaru said softly, beckoning. The floor writhed with scales in dozens of shades as the rest of the snakes converged on their summoner, still muttering about the unfit nest and the people who had been in it. Tobirama was faintly amused. "You've done well, thank you." he murmured, and the snakes around him began to thin out a bit with soft poofs of smoke, more disappearing improbably up his sleeves.

Kakashi still had hold of the large green snake, and at least a dozen more lingered around the small family.

Tobirama shifted his attention to the Clan Heads - restive, but mostly quiet, as he had requested - and then back to Hikaku. He bowed, and Tobirama raised an eyebrow. "My apologies, Hokage-sama. We . . . appear to have lost the prisoner."

Tobirama fought down a snort of laughter, as . . . regretful as he was for where Danzo had ended up. A part of him was saddened . . . for the boy he had known long ago; for this Danzo. . . Tobirama's eyes strayed to the stack of papers on the table, and the tiny muzzle, and his jaw tightened. "Yes, well. . . While I had further questions for Danzo at a later time, it appears that particular line of investigation is . . . cut off."

"So it appears." Hikaku said blandly. "Sometimes the Buddha turns a merciful eye on those who have to fill in the forms later." Tobirama's lips twitched and Hikaku bowed his head slightly, dark eyes dancing with restrained amusement.

Tobirama turned to Hiruzen, who looked . . . even older, and far more tired, than he already had. Tobirama sighed silently. Regrets. . . Hiruzen may not have fallen so far as Danzo had, but _how_ had his so-promising, clever young student become such an ineffectual and blind man?

"The path you led Konoha down, Saru." Tobirama said quietly. "Your old friend," he gestured to the papers spread across the table, then rested one finger on the muzzle, "the man you trusted _without pause_, even when others brought concerns to you. . ."

"We . . . I believe we have made some mistakes." Hiruzen said, head bowed. "After we lost you, sensei."

Tobirama resisted the urge to snarl. He had _thought_ he had left Konoha in safe hands, gone to his final battle knowing the chances he would return to his village were slim but content his students would safeguard it in his stead, and carry it onwards as he had for his brother. "As have I myself." Tobirama said coolly. "Such as making _you_ Hokage in my stead."

Hiruzen's eyes snapped up and then he flinched away, cringing.

Tobirama could not, himself, put right everything that had gone so horrifically wrong, either. He would only last so long; he hadn't prepared the Edo Tensei for himself to be sustainable, only long enough to lend assistance, to offer his strength to his village in an emergency. Tobirama would do what he could - and he could accomplish much in a short time - but someone else would have to take over. This time . . . he would have to do better in choosing who he left to safeguard the village.

This time, he thought dryly as he reached out and pulled the Hokage's hat from Hiruzen's head, he would have rather more time to consider it, and no deadly distractions approaching, even if it happened that he was less familiar with those who could take the place. Hiruzen looked up at him and Tobirama moved back to his prior position and dropped the hat on the table in front of himself. "I am removing you from the office I clearly should never have entrusted to your care." he said, sharp and cool.

"Sensei. . ." Hiruzen's thin voice wasn't a protest, as miserable as it was. Tobirama just looked at him, and he crumpled further.

Tobirama was very aware of the time counting down. He had many things to investigate, to do . . . to ensure that Konoha was on a better path when he departed than it had been. It was a daunting task . . . and one no longer aided by the current arrangement here.

He glanced at the Clan Heads.

Though he might need to speak with them, on several counts . . . later. Speaking with Hikaku about the Military Police and the investigation _they_ must take over - it was their place, Tobirama wanted them _back in it_ \- from him came first. This ANBU nonsense. . . Tobirama sighed. Probably an issue for whoever became Yondaime to disband or fold into the Military Police or simply the jounin corps, whichever fit more smoothly.

Tobirama turned towards Orochimaru, Sakumo, and Kakashi, knowing his expression was softening a little, particularly as his eyes lingered on the clearly exhausted toddler fussing a little in his father's arms, the green snake partially draped over his legs. "You three can probably go home - or to the hospital, if you think it necessary." he told them. "I may need to speak with you again, but I can find you. You needn't remain here."

Orochimaru looked up at him almost blankly, and Sakumo wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "I think we may be . . . exiled?" Sakumo said, with a questioning expression, glancing sideways at Orochimaru, who bowed his head lower, eyes squeezing closed.

"Consider the exile revoked." Tobirama said firmly, then- "I thought only Orochimaru. . ."

"I won't stay without my mate." Sakumo said firmly, lifting his jaw. "Also. . . I attacked my own village this morning," he held his son tighter, "I extrapolated."

"Ah. In this case I think excusable." Tobirama dropped his eyes to the cub, then glanced at the window where the giant snake was just withdrawing his tongue once more.

"Thank you, Nidaime-sama. We'll go home." Sakumo said, bowing his head and beginning to rise. He stopped as Tobirama's clone appeared beside him, arms cradling an infant with damp hair wrapped in a dull green length of fabric and the fur from around his shoulders.

Tobirama raised his eyebrows at himself. "I'll take him - and the other children, the older ones - to the hospital, but this one wasn't stolen," he held out a small file, and Tobirama took it, but shifted to take in the other people in the room rather than read it yet, "he'll need somewhere to go." his clone finished quietly.

Something else Tobirama would have to sort out before he departed. Several of the Clan Heads were eyeing the baby with interest, at least one showing disgust, and another few pity. Hiruzen stared, his sorrowful face unchanged. Hikaku gave a sympathetic glance and then cut his eyes to one of his subordinates - a young woman - who had begun to make a soft crooning sound.

Tobirama watched the little family sidelong. Kakashi had turned when Tobirama's clone appeared, and was curiously peering at the bundle he held now. Sakumo shushed his son but watched with sympathy.

Orochimaru's eyes were fixed on the baby. Tobirama took him from his clone, reflexively letting his chakra flow out gently to feather over the boy, inspecting him. His chakra was remarkably stable for a child with mokuton, but there was a twisting ripple inside - mokuton, the guided strength of _life_, trying to take and grow without restraint, which a child, an _infant_, could not offer.

"_Tenzou._" Orochimaru breathed, barely audible. "He's- He's really alive."

"Mama?" Kakashi looked away from the baby and leaned into Orochimaru, who gently stroked his back with one hand.

"It's all right little one." Orochimaru soothed. "I only-"

"Tenzou?" Tobirama repeated, rocking the child gently. "He has a name?"

His clone shook his head, eyes dropping to the papers. Tobirama glanced at them - a subject number stamped across the top. No name.

"I. . . Yes." Orochimaru said, his expression tightening around the eyes. "All- All of them who . . . survived past the initial stages. That is Tenzou. He. . . He was one of the strongest. I was surprised when Danzo told me he had died." The taut lines of his expression creased with anger as his jaw tightened. The barely-there waver in his tone suggested _surprise_ had been mixed with _grief_, or at least with something like.

"Danzo-" Hiruzen began, in that same thin tone, and Tobirama opened his mouth, but-

"Here is the _sole surviving proof_ of what your _old friend would not do, sensei_!" Orochimaru practically spat, suddenly on his feet. "You would still defend him?" He paused, drawing a deep breath that wobbled at the start, then smoothed out. "When you would not so much as listen to me?" he added quietly, eyes hard.

"Orochimaru. . ." Hiruzen shook his head, barely raising his head enough to meet Orochimaru's gaze, and flinching a little under it. Orochimaru's chakra was pulsing - not quite killing intent, but heavy and sharp with his anger.

"I'm going to go back to the other children." Tobirama's clone said, glancing at the baby - _Tenzou_ \- and then meeting his eyes. "Some of them have nowhere to go either."

Tobirama frowned, shaking his head slightly. Another problem for the next Hokage to be faced with, no doubt, ensuring all the children were well placed if they could not be returned to where they had been stolen from.

"It was reported the base was destroyed," Tobirama said, tipping his head towards the window, "is there any damage to systems that will risk the rest of Konoha?"

"The base as a whole has been remarkably well-severed from any lines leading back to the rest of the village - hidden tunnels, water lines, power, everything." Tobirama's clone reported.

"I know how to destroy an enemy installation." the great snake at the window said in a dry tone.

"Evidently." Tobirama's clone said, and dipped his head, then used the hiraishin to return to the children - Tobirama followed the shift absently with his senses before focusing in on the child in his arms again. His mokuton thrummed inside him. He had survived thus far - Tobirama was impressed with the little one - and he might even so, but. . .

Tobirama could improve his chances.

"Take him; I'm going to create a seal to keep his mokuton in check for now." Tobirama said, turning slightly. Hikaku twitched, but Tobirama looked towards Orochimaru, still standing half a step in front of the bench his family sat on, tense with anger, and watched his reaction.

Orochimaru looked at him, eyes startled and wide for an instant, then narrowing slightly. "There's a _seal_ to control mokuton?" he asked, voice almost harsh.

"Of course." Tobirama said, hesitating, then tilting his head. "It's how we got Hashirama through childhood and adolescence in one piece, for one thing."

"If I had known, _before_. . ." Orochimaru said softly. Understanding struck as his eyes darkened, and Tobirama frowned sympathetically.

He moved closer. "Would you take him?" he asked, and then put the baby forwards without waiting for a response, though he didn't try to release his hold. Orochimaru stared at him for a moment, but slowly brought his arms up and accepted the bundled infant, cradling him close with an easy gesture.

As he should, Tobirama supposed, glancing at the toddler climbing to his feet in his father's lap. Orochimaru was looking down into the baby's face, and shifted his hold to free one hand, gently drawing a fingertip down the little snub nose. "Tenzou. . ." Orochimaru murmured, his voice soft and thick. The baby wriggled, dark eyes focused on the hand above him, and then reached out and wrapped tiny fingers around Orochimaru's.

"_You_ named him?" Tobirama asked with light emphasis.

"They are _babies_, not theoretical exercises." Orochimaru said with just a hint of an edge in his tone, rubbing his thumb over Tenzou's fingers. "They need more than. . ." he trailed off, eyes softening, but Tobirama could guess at how he might have continued.

He made a move to begin the seal, then paused, attention straying.

"Mama?" Kakashi called curiously, and Orochimaru took a step closer. "Baby?"

Orochimaru looked at his son with a faint smile. "Very young baby. Tenzou." he introduced, holding Tenzou a little lower. Sakumo had an arm around Kakashi to steady him, but was watching Orochimaru and the infant he held with a soft look in his eyes.

Kakashi caught hold of Orochimaru's arm, leaning up. Orochimaru hissed softly, and he carefully drew his hands back without letting go. "Tenzou." Kakashi said, peering at the baby. "Mama named?"

Orochimaru cleared his throat. ". . .yes."

"Tenzou is brother?" Kakashi asked, and Orochimaru went still. Tobirama tipped his head down slightly and looked at all of them. Sakumo's mouth was slightly open. "Mine?" Kakashi said, half a question and half a demand.

"Erm. Cub. . ." Sakumo lightly rubbed Kakashi's chest with one hand.

"Mine." Kakashi said again, leaning further, tugging at Orochimaru's arm. "Mama can hold." He wobbled and raised one hand to rub at his eyes. "Tired." he half-whined.

"Kakashi," Orochimaru began, lifting Tenzou a little higher, "Tenzou is-"

"Would you take him?" Tobirama asked, and watched both parents startle. He met each pair of eyes in turn. "He has no family," other than _himself_, Tobirama thought, with his brother's DNA, and mokuton, given life again in the baby, "nowhere waiting for him. You _created_ him, kept him alive this far." He caught Orochimaru's gaze. "Would you give him a family, too?"

Orochimaru opened his mouth, then closed it again. He cradled Tenzou a little closer to his chest, then looked to Sakumo. "Wolf-heart. . ."

Sakumo reached out and tugged Orochimaru closer, peering down at the baby and then up into his face. They were silent for a moment, Kakashi occupied with the snake peeking out of his collar to join his inspection of the baby, and Tobirama waited.

"Oh, lovely." Sakumo said, smiling slightly. He looked back at the baby, hugging Kakashi tighter. "Tenzou."

Orochimaru drew a slow breath and let it out, rocking Tenzou distractedly.

"Mine?" Kakashi questioned more tentatively.

Orochimaru brushed a hand over his head, turning back to Tobirama. "We. . . If you would, then yes." he said, and Sakumo rested a hand on his hip as though to steady him.

Tobirama smiled.

"Yes, Kakashi." Sakumo said, nuzzling Kakashi's temple with a hum. "Tenzou is your brother. Pack." he instructed.

"I can scent?" Kakashi asked, and Orochimaru sank down on the bench beside them again.

"Be very gentle." Orochimaru said quietly. "Tenzou is very tiny, and he's . . . been sick."

Kakashi crouched and leaned close, sniffing. Tenzou smacked him in the face with one hand, and Kakashi yipped, flinching and tilting his battered jaw away. He didn't pull back though, breathing in again, and Sakumo crooned to him, extending a hand to rest lightly on Tenzou's small chest.

Tobirama left them to it and worked through the mokuton seal quickly; it took him a few moments to remember quite how it went, but . . . he'd done this often enough, even if it had been long ago. It came back, and the seal formed smoothly in careful strokes.

"Let me get to his chest please." he asked when it was finished, moving towards the little family, and Orochimaru glanced up, then hurriedly moved aside fur and fabric for Tobirama's bloody, chakra-sparking fingers.

Tenzou stilled, then cried as the seal sank into place, and Tobirama winced. He quieted quickly as the seal settled into place, though, and Orochimaru hummed soothingly, rocking him and tucking him back into the swaddling after a moment's inspection of the seal fading into his skin. "You'll tell me about the seal?" Orochimaru asked, looking up.

"Of course." Tobirama nodded, forming another clone before reaching for the baby. "I'll take him to the hospital; he needs a better check than I can do here."

Orochimaru's fingers curled into the fur around Tenzou, holding him close. Then he took a breath and nodded, bringing Tenzou up close and resting his chin atop the baby's head for a moment before surrendering him to Tobirama's arms once more.

"Tenzou-brother!" Kakashi protested, and barked when Tobirama looked at him.

Sakumo tugged him back and Orochimaru caught his arm, tugging gently. "Our cousin is going to take him to the hospital, Kakashi. Mama told you, he hasn't been well. They need to be sure he's all better before he can come home." Sakumo said softly.

Kakashi whined, but settled back. Tobirama paused, then came close enough to let Kakashi reach Tenzou. He eyed Tobirama, then leaned in and nosed at Tenzou gently, whining more softly. "You get better, tiny brother." he said, little face intent on the baby.

Sakumo scooped him up as he leaned back, giving Kakashi almost the same gesture, nose buried in his spiky hair.

Kakashi snuggled into it, body going lax. "When brother come home?"

"As soon as he's well enough." Orochimaru said, and a quelling look silenced the burgeoning question it looked very much like Kakashi had been about to ask.

"You just wait and be a good big brother when he comes home, right?" the Inuzuka girl said, smiling at Kakashi. Tobirama passed the baby to his clone, and they were gone in a moment. He . . . liked the small family for the boy. He thought. . .

Tobirama glanced at the Clan Heads sidelong. He thought they would protect him. Danzo wasn't the only one who would think the mokuton was needed, or should be used, particularly if it was already _there_ in a child, just waiting to be put to work. It was only a bloodline - and the baby was only a _baby_.

_They are babies, not theoretical exercises_, in a low tone shaded with hissing. Tobirama hid a smile. This from the man who had consented to such a deadly experiment to begin with. A sharp snake with soft eyes for children, and the Hatake wolf nature - his family, distant as they were, he thought wryly - with their deep down leanings to _pack_, to claim and keep.

Tobirama could trust he was leaving the boy - his brother's legacy, willing or not, he supposed - in safe hands, with such a pair for his parents.

"Another hatchling?" the great snake said from the window. "Hm. Your nest has always been small."

"It will be good." Sakumo said, leaning into Orochimaru's side.

"I'm glad you feel that way. Thank you," Tobirama added, "for offering a family." They looked at him again. He glanced at Kakashi, who was flagging again with the interest of the baby - his tiny new brother - gone again. "You can take him home." he said, nodding to Kakashi in Sakumo's arms.

Sakumo sighed and nodded, cuddling his cub a little tighter. "Thank you, Nidaime-sama." he said again, echoed by Orochimaru.

"Will you be taking your," Tobirama paused, thinking _living siege weapon_, "summon with you?"

Orochimaru glanced at the window and his mouth angled into a smirk. "He does as he pleases, mostly. Would you meet us at home, please?" he asked, though.

A dull hiss that was still loud enough to thrum faintly in the floorboards. "I don't get to eat the other one, then?" the snake asked, and Tobirama's brows rose.

"You cannot possibly still be hungry." Orochimaru said dryly, though he flicked a narrow-eyed glance at Hiruzen.

A sigh from the window. "Only asking. Very well. Your nest." One last flick of the unsettling serpent tongue into the room and then his great head was moving away. Tobirama decided to trust that he'd be able to wind through the village to wherever 'home' was without crushing anything else.

The smaller snakes followed their summoner as the jounin and their cub left together, and Tobirama nodded once, then turned to the Clan Heads. "I need to speak with you, but first I need to investigate _these_, and speak with Captain Hikaku." he said, and gestured. "I believe there is another meeting room nearby?"

It wasn't _really_ a question, and a few pointed comments as Tobirama called up another two clones and sent them off kept the Clan Heads moving. Hikaku snapped something at the young Uchiha who was evidently Head now before Tobirama could, and got a sullen look, but he said nothing more.

Tobirama needed to question Hiruzen more thoroughly as well, and Hikaku, and reread the records Danzo had kept with more attention. . . He needed to speak with the Clan Heads both about the stolen children and the experiments, and to seek their thoughts on who would make a good Yondaime Hokage.

Tobirama sighed and marshalled his thoughts, tightly planning out his remaining time.

* * *

All three of them clean and fed, worn out but a bit more at ease from the time to themselves, Orochimaru ushered his small family outside to the expansive garden behind their home. Manda was still waiting there, as Orochimaru had asked. Kakashi, drooping with exhaustion but healed of his relatively small hurts, lifted his head as the great snake shifted with a quiet rasp of scales. Orochimaru rubbed his son's back, shifting his weight a little more into one arm, over his own hip.

"You wish me to stay?" Manda asked, his head low on the grass.

"I would be grateful if you would watch over my family tonight." Orochimaru replied, inclining his head. Manda hissed contemplatively, eyeing the three of them, then adjusted his coils as he angled his head away.

Clasping Sakumo's wrist with his free hand, Orochimaru drew his mate along with him into the centre of Manda's heaping, huge coils. Kakashi reached out and trailed his fingers over Manda's scales as they passed, and Orochimaru smiled slightly.

"Will you rest here?" Orochimaru asked, turning and releasing Sakumo with a light slide of fingertips over the heel of his hand. He dropped the furs he held to the ground in answer, crouching comfortably on the grass as he arranged them in a heaping, welcoming spread at Orochimaru's feet. He looked up with a faint smile.

Orochimaru sighed, stroking Kakashi's side and sliding off the light sandals he wore before stepping into the waiting nest. Manda coiled around them all, close and steady, a powerful wall between them and the rest of the world, as they settled down together.

Kakashi leaned over and patted Manda's scales again, and the great head loomed over the wall of coils, bowing low overhead. Kakashi reached out and Manda nudged his hand with exceeding delicacy. "Thanks, Manda-sama." he said, dropping his hand as Manda lifted his head away again, coils shifting.

Orochimaru caught Kakashi's hand in his own and kissed the top of his son's head, glancing over at his mate. Sakumo was just staring at them both, eyes gleaming in the moonlight. Orochimaru extended his free hand to bring his mate closer, and Sakumo sighed and moved into it eagerly, movements slow with weariness.

Orochimaru wrapped an arm around Sakumo's shoulders, encouraging him close until they were pressed together, Sakumo warm and solid at his side. Orochimaru closed his eyes and leaned into his mate in return, opening his embrace to allow his son to move as Kakashi began to wriggle.

He slipped between their legs as he moved, clumsy with exhaustion, still sitting mostly in Orochimaru's lap as he began tugging at his father's shirt, nuzzling his face into them both with needy, sleepy affection. Orochimaru watched Kakashi, a smile tugging at his lips as his throat tightened a little.

He looked up as Sakumo brushed a hand over his cheek, cupping his jaw, and was met with a kiss, warm and soft and as needy in its way as Kakashi's clinginess. His beloved wolves. Orochimaru squeezed Sakumo around the shoulders, then slid his hand up to knead lightly at the nape of Sakumo's neck, tilting his head to deepen the kiss a little.

Sakumo nipped gently, fangs pressing against Orochimaru's lip without even a hint of a sting, and rubbed their noses together. He slid away from the kiss, scenting Orochimaru with deep breaths, nose pressed to his cheek and nudging back past his ear with a soft whuff into his hair.

Orochimaru hummed, amused, and tipped his head, allowing it even as he splayed his hand across Kakashi's back to catch him as he swayed. Sakumo nuzzled down to his neck, a warm slide of lips and then the brush of teeth as he tucked his face deeper into the crook of Orochimaru's neck. Orochimaru stroked his mate's back, tracing his spine.

"Rest, wolf-heart." Orochimaru murmured, resting his cheek on wild silver-white hair.

Sakumo whined, but nodded. He turned to press himself further against Orochimaru, beginning to squash Kakashi between them. He yipped in protest, and they drew apart a little, looking down at his pouting face.

Orochimaru shifted to scoop him up, and he kicked a bit before leaning into the hold, accepting the kiss on his brow with a happy crooning noise. He tipped his head up and licked Orochimaru's jaw affectionately, then sagged back in his arms with a yawn.

Sakumo was watching him with a soft look, head bowed. Orochimaru let Kakashi slide down into his lap, where he curled up with a sleepy mutter, and reached for his mate. He moaned into another soft, lingering kiss, and Orochimaru nudged their noses together before biting his lip and tugging gently. "We're safe." he soothed, gently pressing at Sakumo's shoulders until he shifted around, stretching and then tucking himself up more closely, nuzzled into Orochimaru's belly.

Orochimaru hummed approvingly, petting his hair and rubbing a thumb over the curve of his ear. Sakumo's body went lax quickly, his breathing deepening and the arm he had tucked around their son loosening. He had driven himself hard over the past days; now assured of his pack's safety and closeness, he desperately needed the rest.

Orochimaru tilted his head back to look at the stars, both hands buried in soft silver hair, quietly breathing warmth cuddled in his lap. Manda muttered something, low enough they could both pretend he hadn't spoken, and Orochimaru's lips twitched. He might need the rest as well, but he couldn't sleep - not just yet, not even with Manda a watchful bulwark coiled around his family.

This morning he had been in a place where he had lost . . . so much. His home, his hopes, his mate, his _child_ . . . and today they had been returned . . . along with harrowing new memories Orochimaru would never be able to forget.

_Kakashi in a cage, his jaw bound tight in leather and steel._

Kakashi in Danzo's hands.

Orochimaru's breath caught as tears welled in his eyes. He had lost much in his exile, now ended or not, but he could have lost . . . so much more. Could have without even _knowing_, if Sakumo hadn't come after him.

Orochimaru bowed his head again, looking at his son's peaceful face. It still bore some faint marks of the ordeal he had been through, but was currently untroubled in sleep. He was safe, held close against Sakumo's chest with his head tucked against Orochimaru's body. Both of them lay over his legs, a heavy and reassuring weight.

He petted Kakashi's hair with his left hand, letting it run down his back. Both tucked close under his hands, and all wrapped within Manda's strong coils, which wound a little tighter as Orochimaru wavered a bit.

Nothing would reach his family tonight. Orochimaru took a shallow breath, the tears refusing to stop, and leaned firmly against Manda at his back, fingers tightening in Sakumo's hair. _Safe_, he reminded himself, just . . . _breathing_.

He kept his eyes on the stars, forcing his breathing to remain slow and even, idly stroking soft hair or warm shoulder and back from time to time. He raised one hand, wiping away an itchy trail of tears with the back of his wrist as his breathing hitched. Kakashi whined in his sleep, and Orochimaru tensed, but it was only a soft sound as he shifted a little, there was no distress in his tone.

Orochimaru stroked his face, his own heart calming a little with his son's obvious contentment.

Manda's coil rippled at his back and Orochimaru shifted against him, the pressure of the huge scales through his yukata reassuring and familiar as he closed his eyes, letting himself fold down into a more comfortable position. He slid his hand up Kakashi's back, ruffling his hair and rubbing behind an ear with his thumb, then petted back down, leaving his hand splayed protectively across Kakashi's shoulder blades.

He curled the fingers of his other hand to rub his knuckles across Sakumo's shoulders, broad and strong and solid. Spiky-soft hair fell over his hand and wrist in a familiar caress, and he sighed, a faint smile tugging at his lips. Sakumo didn't move, curled snugly around their cub.

His wolf was exhausted, but hadn't so much as faltered until they were all safe here. Orochimaru kneaded gently at his back a little longer before winding his fingers into Sakumo's hair once more, drifting.

"You are safe, little summoner. I am keeping watch."

The low hiss barely registered, but soothed Orochimaru the rest of the way towards sleep all the same.

The same low hiss heralded his waking next, and Orochimaru sighed, extending his senses, wondering how long he had slept.

"May I speak with your summoner, please?"

Orochimaru's eyes snapped open and he gently nudged his mate aside just enough to sit up, sliding Kakashi down further into the shelter of Sakumo's body than his own. Manda's only reply for the Nidaime was another low, angry hiss, his great body tensing. Orochimaru reached out, splaying a hand over his side. "It's all right, I'm awake."

"My apologies for waking you, but I have some important things to discuss. Ah. . ." Tobirama paused. "Is there a door?" he asked dryly.

Orochimaru snorted and patted Manda lightly, then raised a suspicious eyebrow as he moved, tracking the angle of his coils, and. . . "Manda, that is your _mouth_, not a door. Please let Nidaime-sama through." he requested as he rose to his feet.

"Also I am mostly made up of ashes and dirt," Tobirama said as Manda began to move again, this time actually lifting his coils out of the way, less allowing Tobirama an open space to enter and more simply rearranging to bring him inside, "I would probably not be much to your taste."

Manda made a put-out sound as he resettled his coils snugly behind Tobirama. An implied threat, if a mild one, where Manda was concerned.

Manda rested his head on his own coils, peering down. "Hatchling is well?" he inquired, with studious disinterest.

Orochimaru trailed his fingers over Manda's scales. "As he can be. Sleeping." he said, glancing at Tobirama. "You. . . Important things to discuss?" he questioned, all too aware of his sleeping family at his feet.

Tobirama inclined his head in confirmation. "I am sorry to disturb you further tonight; I would have waited for tomorrow, but," he paused, lifting his jaw with a wry smile, "the scroll I prepared to bring me back was crafted for very specific circumstances. I have a very limited amount of time before this body will disintegrate, and I will return to the Pure Lands."

". . .ah." Orochimaru nodded understanding, studying the Nidaime with a slightly bowed head.

Tobirama's gaze strayed to Sakumo and Kakashi, and Orochimaru fought not to tense.

"He _is_ all right, your son?" Tobirama asked softly, meeting Orochimaru's eyes again. "If you need help with him, but would prefer not to take him to the hospital. . . I would be happy to assist you here."

"No. Thank you." Orochimaru said evenly. "I know enough iryou jutsu to treat his injuries myself." He smiled slightly. "I . . . don't think it would have been a good idea to take him to an iryou-nin in any case." Even if Orochimaru had been willing to trust his son to anyone else today . . . or for some time, likely.

Kakashi had been quite calm and well-behaved even in the meeting room as the Nidaime began his investigations . . . but Orochimaru doubted he would have remained so had anyone else come near, or proposed to take him away from them.

. . .neither would he have been able to, if anyone had tried to suggest he let his son go, Orochimaru could admit.

"Could you tell me how you knew where he was?" Tobirama asked, no accusation in his eyes. Orochimaru took a breath, which caught a little in his throat, remembering Sakumo's heart-wrenching howl, just _seeing_ his mate chasing after him, even, not sure why Sakumo was there and knowing he had been branded a traitor and a monster . . . and then the heart-stopping realisation that Kakashi was _missing_, had been. . .

Orochimaru explained in brief terms and clipped tones; his exile, Sakumo's appearance, and the thought that had immediately occurred to him then. Danzo, _Root_, was already stealing children - and who else would have dared try to take Kakashi? Who would. . .

Orochimaru raised a hand to his face, not quite hiding behind it but tipping his head down and closing his eyes for a moment. Manda was watching over him and he . . . didn't truly think that the Nidaime was going to prove a threat. He had offered up-

"Why did you offer- _ask_ . . . for us to take Tenzou?" Orochimaru asked in turn, lowering his hand and meeting deep red eyes.

Tobirama didn't show any surprise, but examined him for a moment, then looked down again. Orochimaru followed his gaze to where Kakashi was curled into a little ball under Sakumo's chin, snug against his chest.

"Your care for your own cub, both of you, and," Tobirama paused while Orochimaru looked up at him, "you created him." Orochimaru flinched. "He may need you. He's doing well," he added before Orochimaru could frame a coherent, controlled question from the sudden pang of alarm he felt, "but mokuton is difficult even for a child born with it; I have no idea what difficulties _he_ may face."

Orochimaru nodded, jaw tightening.

"And Danzo will not be the only one to seek to use him," Tobirama said simply, "and use him long before he is ready, particularly now there's no need to _dirty their hands_ to do so. You and your mate are strong enough to protect him, and I believe you _will_."

"He is a _child_." Orochimaru snapped reflexively, and Tobirama smiled at him.

Orochimaru winced. Very impulsive. And clearly just what Tobirama had been aiming to provoke from him. Not his best moment.

"Kakashi . . . he has never spent much time with other children." Orochimaru cautioned. "I can't be sure. . . With his venom it's often too dangerous, even for those children whose parents might agree to allow them to play. If he bites even in play. . . And he's a Hatake," his lips quirked, "he bites."

"A venomous Hatake." Tobirama murmured. "An interesting development. You have antivenin, I assume?"

Orochimaru snorted, lips quirking. "I do. Adapted from _mine_," he smirked slightly, "he's too young and his venom sacs too difficult to express to use his own venom with much success."

Tobirama hummed. "Interesting. . . In any case, I'm not terribly concerned he'll hurt his new . . . tiny brother." Another small smile flashed across his face. "Not after how he responded to the baby today. When he had been very distressed and strained. Do you truly think he will be a danger to Tenzou?"

"I can't be sure of his reaction." Orochimaru said honestly. "Other children often baffle him, but he has never been aggressive . . . he has also never had a brother."

"You aren't required to answer me," Tobirama said with a thoughtful look, and Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, "how is it that you and your mate," he nodded downwards, "came to have a child of your own blood between you?"

Orochimaru laughed softly, running his fingers over his stomach lightly as warmth and love bloomed in his memory. "A quirk of my clan's bloodline made Kakashi possible . . . helped along by some creative use of shared chakra and some very specialised iryou jutsu." he simplified, pushing aside the less pleasant memories of the process.

Tobirama made a thoughtful sound, eyeing Orochimaru. "Impressive." he said finally, and met Orochimaru's eyes. "Did you . . . plan to give him siblings?"

"We never really decided." Sakumo said, startling Orochimaru. He soothed Kakashi as he wriggled with one hand petting down his back. "Hello, Nidaime-sama. You. . . I wouldn't have expected to see you here tonight," he glanced upwards as he sat up, "unless there was something wrong with our presence. . ." he trailed off pointedly while Orochimaru glared, trying to catch his mate's eye as Sakumo avoided his gaze. This was _Senju Tobirama_ and Sakumo-

"Nothing. My repeal of any _exile_ you might have expected stands." Tobirama said calmly. "However there _are_ matters that concern you to discuss, and as I told Orochimaru-san . . . I have been summoned back to this world, but I won't last long. My time is limited and I must utilise it well; unfortunately that requires me to disturb your family tonight." he said apologetically.

"What sort of matters require _us_?" Sakumo asked, bristling a little, and Orochimaru stepped closer, running his fingers over his mate's shoulder calmingly. "Danzo's been . . . _dealt with_, so has his base, you have the children, which were nothing to do with us in any case. . ."

"The new Yondaime Hokage, actually." Tobirama said, and Sakumo faltered.

"You're really removing the Sandaime from office?" Sakumo asked, shifting a little and then growling softly to Kakashi when he fidgeted in response, whining breathily.

"I cannot countenance doing anything else after seeing the disaster wrought under his oversight." Tobirama said with a regretful expression. "However, I must ensure that someone capable of both leading the village well and _undoing his messes_ is chosen before I depart . . . someone the village will accept."

Orochimaru nodded understanding, though he wondered what brought Tobirama _here_.

"I have been speaking to the village elders," Tobirama's lip curled, "who desperately need some reining in and perhaps replacing," he shook his head briefly, "and to the Clan Heads, the Jounin Commander and some of the jounin and chuunin I could track down around the Tower. . ."

"I don't think there are many in the village who would be capable." Sakumo observed, frowning slightly, rocking Kakashi with one hand on his shoulder as he whined breathily again, mumbling in his sleep.

"Almost everyone suggested the same candidate to me, in fact many of them were surprised Hiruzen's successor had not been announced before." Tobirama said, and Orochimaru's brows drew together as he took a breath. "Will you accept the responsibility, Orochimaru-san?"

Orochimaru froze, mouth half open.

"I was told much about Saru-kun's students," Tobirama winced faintly, "and indeed, almost everyone I spoke with told me how it had long been expected one of the _Sannin_ would take his place as Hokage . . . and more recently how it was all but certain to be you. That they wanted you to take the position."

Orochimaru closed his mouth, then licked his lips. "I was thrown out of Konoha. Banished. And this morning I _broke_ back in to destroy a military installation at least nominally connected to the ANBU - and was responsible for a large number of deaths, _within Konoha_, technically Konoha citizens." he said slowly and precisely. "I defied my Hokage. Multiple times, one could say. And you want _me_ to be his _successor_?"

"Yes." Tobirama said simply. Orochimaru had no words. "You've been at least nominally prepared for the role; you're strong enough to hold it and I believe your sense of responsibility is up to the task." He smiled slightly as Orochimaru blinked at him. "I believe you are also smart enough to handle it . . . and to put right Hiruzen's mistakes."

Orochimaru opened his mouth but couldn't quite. . .

Sakumo pressed against his leg gently. "You _did_ want it, once, lovely." he said softly, and Orochimaru dragged his eyes away from the Nidaime to look at his mate. "Will you take it? And we'll stay?"

Orochimaru pressed his lips together, closing his eyes for a moment and then looking back at Tobirama. "I don't know if I can." he said, and Tobirama's brows rose. "You say that those you spoke to spoke of _me_ as Hokage, but I don't know if they will work with me. . ." Tobirama gave him a dubious look and Sakumo snorted. Orochimaru paused, then sighed. "I can force compliance from them if I must." he allowed. "But. . . Nidaime-sama, I have a family that _must_ come first. Including Tenzou, who may need. . ."

Tobirama smiled slightly, and Orochimaru slanted a curious look at him.

Sakumo shifted a little at his side, beginning to rise. "Lovely, you can't-" he broke off and fell still as Kakashi stirred with a thicker noise of complaint, blinking and then squeezing his eyes closed again with a huff, not quite waking. Orochimaru smiled fondly, reaching out and brushing a hand over Kakashi's cheek and down to rest on his chest.

"I'm confident you can manage it if you apply yourself. Would it be so much more difficult than raising this one," Tobirama nodded towards Kakashi, "while you were both on active duty?"

"Possibly." Orochimaru said dryly, also there would be _two_ of them, adding a new baby to Kakashi, but inclined his head to cede the point.

"I truly wish for you to step forwards and take this on, if you feel equal to the task." Tobirama said, holding Orochimaru's gaze with his own. "From everything I have heard and seen from you, and _of_ you, _I_ believe you can."

Orochimaru nodded shallowly - understanding, not agreement - then turned away as he heard another small sound from Kakashi. This time his eyes stayed open. "Cousin?" he said sleepily, looking up at Tobirama.

Tobirama smiled and crouched. "Hello little cousin." he said in a warm, gentle tone.

Kakashi looked up at Sakumo, then Orochimaru, before returning his attention to Tobirama, sitting up a little and leaning out of Sakumo's arms, sniffing. "You smell. . ." he trailed off, sleepy eyes narrowing.

"I'm the product of a jutsu. I don't smell like myself." Tobirama explained simply.

Kakashi gave a not-quite-growl in answer. He snuggled his head against Sakumo's shoulder, still watching Tobirama, whose smile had widened a little.

He shifted his gaze to Sakumo. "I was going to ask if I could speak to your cub." he said, and glanced up to Orochimaru as well. "About today . . . and what happened to him while he was taken from you."

Kakashi whined unhappily, and Orochimaru frowned, meeting his mate's eyes. Sakumo looked unhappy too, but he hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "If Kakashi doesn't mind talking to you about it." he said, looking down at Kakashi, who made an inquisitive sound. "Cousin Tobirama would like to ask you about- about what happened when the bad people took you away from home, before we found you, cub."

"Only if you want to." Tobirama said gently. "I know it was scary."

Kakashi wriggled in Sakumo's lap, and Orochimaru looked up at Manda, considering the Nidaime's words as he kept a part of his attention on the conversation below. Manda watched him in return, tongue flicking out.

Orochimaru moved to his summon's side, leaning up against his steady coils. A ripple ran through the powerful muscles he rested against as he watched his son speak, in slow pieces, his mate, tense and clearly biting back growls. The Nidaime, patient and sympathetic.

He considered the years of watching his sensei run Konoha - of watching Danzo left nominally in charge while Hiruzen-sensei took Orochimaru's team out on missions. He tried to think back to when he was young, when it had been the Nidaime Hokage.

. . .Orochimaru tried to process the information that so many had spoken favourably of _him_ in that position, and that the Nidaime _wanted_ him to take it.

This morning Orochimaru had thought he would never set foot in Konoha again - and the most heartbreaking aspect, perhaps the _only_ one, had been that he desperately feared he would never see his mate or child again. By the time he had returned to Konoha in search of Kakashi, his mate at his heels, he had been satisfied to think once they _had_ their child back they might leave, never to return.

And now. . .

"Mama!" Kakashi cried suddenly, and Orochimaru immediately moved away from Manda's support, going to his family and opening his arms as Kakashi flung himself into the waiting embrace. "It was awful and they promised Mama but Mama had never even _been_ there. . . It smelled awful. . . And they told me-" he broke off with a hiccupping whine, burying his face against Orochimaru's chest.

Orochimaru rocked him, crooning gently, heart aching. It had been . . . tempting to break free of the ANBU restraining him to go to his son, even if only to say goodbye - to be sure he was safe until Sakumo returned.

Orochimaru had not because he had not wished to hurt or kill Konoha nin, and hadn't been sure he could break away from them without doing so . . . and he had thought facing his son and then _leaving him behind_. . . Orochimaru didn't think he could have.

Now he wished he had followed that impulse, spared Kakashi the terror and hurt he had experienced. He kissed his son's brow. "I am sorry, my little cubling." he murmured, cuddling Kakashi close.

Kakashi whined and snuggled into him, chin pressing against his collarbone. "They told me there was no family, only orders . . . they told me Mama didn't _want_ me." He howled softly and Orochimaru stiffened, embrace tightening around his son. Sakumo snarled beside him, suddenly pressing close, solid and warm.

"They said _what_?" Orochimaru snapped, and Kakashi whined again, clinging to his yukata. "That is utter- They were _lying_, you will always have pack and you will always have us, Kakashi." he said firmly, and Kakashi nodded, stretching up to nip at Orochimaru's jaw. He sighed, bowing his head as Kakashi sank back down to return the attention with a gentle nuzzle.

"It appears to have been the goal of Root." Tobirama said with a disgusted expression as Orochimaru raised his head once more. "Those who completed the training were to be loyal only to Danzo, and whatever he decided as _the best for Konoha_, with no family and no emotional responses."

Orochimaru hissed. "Idiot."

"The Yondaime will have their hands full handling the reintegration of the Root forces into the general corps." Tobirama said evenly. He met Orochimaru's eyes and raised an eyebrow. "And the ANBU, potentially." He snorted. "I cannot see the use of them as they are; their defined tasks are primarily things _any_ of the elite jounin should be capable of . . . only in secret, and answering to no one but perhaps the Hokage, with no oversight or accountability."

Orochimaru nodded understanding. He looked at Sakumo. He huffed through a last rumbling note of a growl, then tilted his head. He nuzzled Orochimaru's shoulder, splaying a hand over Kakashi's back. "It is your decision, lovely. I am content if you are, and I am sure the cub - the _cubs_ \- will be happy as long as our pack is steady." he said softly.

Orochimaru turned his attention back to Tobirama. "I agree. The ANBU will have to be restructured at the least, and the level of anonymity is more of a problem than a benefit." he mused aloud, considering. "They need broader oversight. It would do no harm to have a check on the Military Police, reciprocally, however. Or expand them from _only_ ninja from the Uchiha Clan."

Tobirama's brows rose, but he nodded slightly. "You'll accept, then?" Orochimaru took a breath, then nodded. "Thank you, Yondaime." he said with a quirk of a smile.

Orochimaru snorted, looking down at Kakashi. "Root first, however. And the children taken from them." he said softly, half-surprised by the approving noise from the Nidaime.

"You'll begin work tomorrow." Tobirama advised, and Orochimaru snorted. "I'll leave you to rest before then." He smiled as they all looked up at him. "I should still be here for your investment. If I arrange it _now_. Good night, and thank you."

"Thank you, Nidaime-sama." Orochimaru replied, bowing his head.

"Good night, Kakashi, little cousin. Thank you for talking with me." Tobirama extended a hand and Kakashi watched him without flinching, allowing Tobirama to brush fingertips over his brow. "Oyasumi."

"You're welcome. Oyasumi." Kakashi said sleepily, cuddling into Orochimaru's arms.

Manda made a contemplative noise as Tobirama rose and approached his coils again, but didn't wait for Orochimaru to speak before allowing him to step out. "You don't have to taste good to be eaten, you know." Manda said almost mildly, his coils winding a little more tightly as Tobirama walked away.

"Then I thank you for not doing so." Tobirama said dryly, and then Orochimaru suspected he was gone with another hiraishin, as Manda hissed dismissively and moved again, looping his head back up to rest on his coils and peer down at them.

"So you will stay here?" Manda asked, a ripple running through his coiled body.

Sakumo shifted closer to Orochimaru, hands sliding over his hip and back, and he leaned into his mate's arms. "So it seems." he murmured, rubbing Kakashi's back as his head drooped and his eyes slowly fell closed.

Sakumo hugged Orochimaru close, carefully avoiding disturbing their son, and nuzzled his shoulder. "You'll be good for Konoha." he said, voice rich with sincerity. "I'm . . . glad you accepted it. We would have been all right," he kissed Orochimaru's throat, "but this way . . . so will others."

Orochimaru snorted, but it was . . . comforting. He tipped his head, leaning into his mate a little more. Then he glimpsed Sakumo's face and was reminded how long his wolf had been running, and how little rest he'd yet had to recover. Orochimaru's mind might be whirling, but Sakumo at least needed to sleep.

He twisted a little further and brushed a kiss along Sakumo's jaw. "Thank you." He nudged Sakumo with his elbow, pushing him back as he let himself be moved, blinking. Orochimaru smiled with fond amusement at his mate, laid back on the disarranged furs and staring at him. "Tomorrow is a big day, evidently." he pointed out, shifting to settle at Sakumo's side and curling into his mate's arm when it tucked around him, letting Kakashi come to rest in the narrow space left between them.

"True." Sakumo yawned, his jaw cracking. He turned onto his side and hooked one leg between Orochimaru's, dragging one of the furs up over them all before reclaiming his embrace of Orochimaru. Kakashi snuggled in with a yawn, then turned his face against Sakumo's chest.

Orochimaru thought he would lie awake, mind busy, but soon found the comfort and warmth of his mate and child snuggled close, and the security of Manda wrapped around them all, carrying him off to sleep. He didn't fight it, content to take rest while he could, and let the mad whirl his life had suddenly been thrown into fade away for a time.

* * *

'Atsukari' is taken from the kanji 篤狩, meaning depth/sincerity and hunt. The Inuzuka girl is Tsume, naturally. Though she is too young yet, Hikaku is looking at Mikoto to succeed him as Captain of the Military Police.

There will be a followup collection of vignettes to show some of their lives (and Konoha's changes) as time goes by after this.


End file.
